Effects Bay

The following is a guest post by Omar Findlay. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

In this review I’m going to be talking about the SoundBlox Bass Envelope Filter, a new toy from the folks at Source Audio. It’s a funky little effect for your bass if you’re looking for something to spice up your pedal board a bit. This will definitely do the trick, and despite the minimalist interface, it has a lot under the hood.

Overview
The BEF has 21 preset envelope effects, which is an offering that other filters lack. The interface contains a minimal number of knobs (4) and each are clearly marked for their functions. The pedal itself takes up a little more space on a board than one might prefer, but it’s a minor thing since there are much larger pedals on the market. The power jack and input/output jacks are easily accessible and don’t get in the way. Time to plug it in and see what it can do!

The effects
The first thing that you’ll notice about the BEF is that it has 21 presets, each of which have a core setting, and are further adjustable with the other three knobs. The effects are categorized by filter setting (peak and notch, single/triple peak, 2/4-pole low pass, phasers) and all have their own unique sounds; he manual explains each effect in detail, which is very handy. The other three knobs allow you to get the exact sound you’re looking for once you’ve found your desired effect; ‘tone’ selects the centre frequency, ‘speed’ sets the filter’s attack and decay, and ‘sweep range’ determines the direction (negative/positive) and width (narrow/wide) of the frequency sweep. Any combination of those three knobs gives you access to thousands of sounds, which you’ll be discovering daily.

Extras
Source Audio has made this (and its other pedals) Hot Hand ready, which means that you’re able to plug in an accessory (sold separately) to the unit and manually control the filter sweep with your hand, finger – whatever you attach the ring to – thus making it similar in operation to a standard bass wah pedal. The Hot Hand is very useful because it gives you additional control without you having to adjust the pedal during a performance. Plus, the ring looks cool. What more could you ask for?

Pros and cons
pros: 21 presets, plus the ability to adjust them and get tons of different sounds out of them. This unit is also very easy to use and quick to learn.
Cons: no wet/dry knob (very minor issue).

Conclusion
If you’re looking for a good envelope filter that can do what the others can and more, don’t overlook this pedal. It’s versatile, it looks cool, it’s got 21 presets, a ‘handy’ accessory, and best of all… it costs less than the others but does just as well. Sure, there’s no save function for all the settings you’re going to find, but that’s a small price to pay for something that is very well-designed and very capable.

Thanks for reading

For more information about Omar Findlay, please check out his blog at backtobassics.wordpress.com. Omar is also in the band Edo & the Best (Visit them on MySpace and Facebook)

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The following a guest post by Brian Porter of Porter Pickups. The guest post is a very detailed procedure on how to replace pickups in your Fender Strat! If you’re looking to change/replace pickups, please take a look at Porter Pickups, he makes some fantastic pickups that are starting to find themselves in boutique guitars and in guitars of musicians looking to improve their tone. Check out PorterPickups.com for sound clips and make sure you follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

If you are interested in guest posting or submitting a guest review, please contact me!

Installing Strat Pickups. Step by step for putting new pickups in a strat style guitar.

Tools for the Job: -25-40Watt Soldering Iron-Solder -Phillips Screwdriver -String Winder -Tweezers (Optional) -Wire Cutters
Remove the Strings String Winders can save some time here.
Remove Pickguard Screws Remove all screws around the perimeter of the pickguard. Don’t touch the pickup or selector switch screws yet. If the strings can’t get out of the holes in the backplate, you might need to remove this as well.
Keep Screws in a Safe Place Put all the pickguard screws in a safe place, so you don’t lose them. Nothing like having a pickguard with one missing screw!
Pickguard is off….
Flip Pickguard Over…. It will still be attached with the jack wires, and the ground wire to the bridge, so make sure you carefully turn it over and don’t pull too hard on it.
Find where the wires go One wire from each pickup will go the the selector switch… Usually the white or “hot” from the pickup. In this case, the middle pickups “Hot” is yellow.
And one wire from each pickup will be soldered to the back of the volume pot…. The black wires from the pickups will be the “ground” Refer to wiring diagrams from places like www.guitarelectronics.com to make sure everything will go back in the right place. Watch where the neck, middle and bridge wires connect to the switch!
Unsolder Old Pickups Touch your soldering iron to the metal portion of the switch. The solder will heat up, and you can remove the wires from the old pickups. Eye protection is a good idea here.
Repeat the same process and unsolder black ground wires from the back of the volume pot…
Wires are now off! Time for some new tone!
Remove old pickups from pickguard Unscrew the pickups from each side, and keep the existing screws for mounting the pickups (We’ll use these again)
Pickups are out!
Spring or Tube? Many Pickups come with either a spring or a tube. We prefer to use the tube for pickup mounting, but you can use the same springs from the old pickups if you would like.
New pickups ready We’re installing our Porter 1960′s Strat pickups for this one.
Time to give this guitar a great new sound….
Install new Pickups Spring tube shown here with the cover on
It compresses and works to raise and lower the pickup height… For now, just make sure the pickups are sticking above the pickguard, we’ll fine tune the height later.
Pickups in!
Tape wires To make a neat wire path
Route the black ground wires Pull them past the bridge pickup, and tape them together near the volume pot.
Cut black wires to length Remember, they will solder to the back of the volume pot, so cut them near the middle of the volume pot.
Prep wires for soldering Here we are using vintage style cloth “push back” wire. You can push back the outer cloth to reveal the wire inside. For other plastic coated pickup wires, you.ll need to use a wire stripper. Leave about 1/4″ for soldering.
Solder to volume pot Put some solder on your wires before soldering to the back of the volume pot. This will make the connection easier. You might also need to put some more solder on the volume pot. Heat up the solder with your iron, and attach all three wires. Tweezers come in hand here since the wires can get hot.
Solder wires to switch Repeat the cutting, push back/ stripping of the white (Hot) wires and solder them to the appropriate lugs of the 5-way switch. Refer to a wiring diagram if you get lost. In this picture it is Bridge, Middle, Neck (Left to right)
Check your wiring job Turn the pickguard over and tap on the pickup magnets with your screwdriver to make sure they are making a sound at the right positions (1-5 on the selector switch). Shown here is the checking of the bridge pickup. If the neck and bridge are backwards, you can reverse the wires on your selector switch.
If it works right , put it back together Put in all the pickguard screws, and restring the guitar. After you have the strings on and can play it a bit, adjust the pickups heights to taste. Usually a nice balance between all three pickups volume wise is a good idea. Some people like the bridge “hotter” so they will raise that pickup higher than the other.

Enjoy your new pickups Often times a great playing guitar can be upgraded with new pickups for a lot less than buying a new guitar. If you have questions about pickups, please visit us online at www.porterpickups.com

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The following is a guest post by Kevin Ian. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Hello Kind Readers!

Today I thought I would combine my effects reviews and Rethinking Guitar. I’m going to look at The Audible Disease Synth Bomb. According to the website (http://www.effectpedals.us/product/synth_bomb_sb-1):

“The *Audible Disease Synth Bomb SB-1* is a simple yet fun to use hand-held monophonic synthesizer that produces an almost boundless array of sounds! Just plug it in and you’re ready to start making some severe noise. The SB-1 incorporates four square-wave oscillators running in parallel. The frequency of each oscillator can be controlled by how much light is hitting each of the four photo-eyes… the more light that hits the photo-eye the higher the frequency of that oscillator. Cover the photo-eyes with your fingers for a virtually endless palate of sound! Oh, did we mention that this thing is loud? Well, it is!”

This thing is a monster. The photo-sensitive eyes are the most sensitive I have ever come across–a sure sign of quality work! It adapts itself to ANY light source, and if you happen to be in a dark club, the LED is bright enough to activate the eyes itself. Yes, I have turned off all my lights in the middle of the night to test this! While this is mainly a hand-held device, you can still mount this on your board and use it with your guitar rig. I found a way that added a new dimension to my sound.

I talked to Bob at Audible Disease and he was able to tailor the Synth Bomb to my needs: 9V adapter capability and a volume knob to help tone down the signal. Aside from those mods, the Snyth Bomb is basically the same as you would get from his site.

I decided to ABY with my guitar and the Synth Bomb. To handle the extra hot signal, I use my custom EGO BOOST from Grumpy Toad FX (I reviewed his Pork Barrel Chorus earlier).

The video I have included is a small example of me experimenting with the sound possible. Mind you, I’ve only had it for about a week, I will write more if I uncover anything else useful! I will also include a video of Bob using the Synth Bomb as he has his own noise project: Xome

One thing I noticed when I use AB at the same time, my guitar volume controls the volume of the Synth Bomb as well. It’s very interesting when I do volume swells, because you can hear a ghostly note behind the noise!

At the heart of Rethinking Guitar is the idea that there are so many tools readily available to guitarists–whether by hardware or technique. It all comes down to whether or not you use it–your imagination is the only guideline! …well, that and the size of your board!

Kevin Ian is a multi-instrumentalist and internet radio DJ. He is currently vocalist/guitarist for The Common Men.

Video with me and my modified Synth Bomb:

Performance by Xome which fully utilizes the Synth Bomb’s capabilities:

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The following is a guest post by Kevin Ian. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Hello Kind Readers!

It has been a while since I have written a “Rethinking Guitar,” but today I stumbled across an interesting topic with which to post: Feedback Loops.

Many of you have seen companies come up with their own version of a Feedback Loop. Fairfield Circuitry has one, Electro Harmonix has a version of it, Devi Ever, Death By Audio, Audible Disease, and Dwarfcraft Devices all have one, and there are DIY Feedback Loops as well.

A Feedback Loop is when you take an effect or chain of effects and feed them back upon each other. For distortion effects, it can be a tuned note or frequency that changes with the manipulation of the knobs or even your guitar’s volume. A delay can bring about swells and infinite repeats. Modulation and filter pedals are the more temperamental effects, some pedals do nothing while others are completely wild.

You tend to find these devices in the hands of noise artists, but a small percentage of artists in various genres of what we generally know as “pop” music are using them. I am one of those musicians who uses the feedback loop for many things in my band, The Common Men.

I thought it would be cool to demonstrate an interesting take on using feedback loops with your playing. I have a video of me going through various settings of my feedback loop while playing leads and riffs. You will notice how I can punctuate a note or make a phrase trail off into total sonic mayhem with just the flip of a switch.

Most feedback loops give you the option of how much feedback you can create. I keep the controls at minimum so my guitar signal still comes through when it is engaged.

Here’s a small breakdown of the video:

00:20 – 01:29 I’m mainly just using a Feb Distortion and Fab Flanger through the loop. The slow flanger really comes into play when I roll off my volume knob, thus creating a very melodic feedback.

01:45 – 04:00 I’m using the synth and octave down settings on my Digitech Synth Wah. Engaging the feedback loop causes the guitar signal to be choked when I have really strong octave down and octave up settings. When the guitar signal dies, it almost has a bit-crushing-like tone to it.

04:00 – end I’m using all of my effects at once, and using a stronger auto wah feature that sounds like a siren when I engage the feedback loop. The chirping sound you hear is actually the breakup of my Devi Ever LP.

At times I also engage my Boss Giga Delay and Various kinds of delays on my actual guitar rig. When all of the signals get crossed and bleed into each other, you get some pretty, lovely, and disgustingly beautiful sounds.

Have a look at my video and I hope you get inspired to experiment as well! Some Feedback Loops are under 100 dollars and are worth the effort if you want to take you guitar playing some place 99% of other guitarists are not!

Kevin Ian is a multi-instrumentalist, Internet Radio DJ, and part-time philosopher. He is currently the guitarist and vocalist for The Common Men, who can be found at www.thecommonmen.tk

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The following is a guest post by Kevin Ian Common. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Hello Kind Readers!

The Common Men are working on new material, and in this time I thought quite a bit about songwriting and the consequences of songwriting. I will focus today on some wisdom that has either been imparted onto me or self-realized after all of these years of writing and collaborating with artists of all genres.

Songwriting poses some serious challenges. Here are three main things I feel should keep you balanced during the songwriting process:

- Seek out Knowledge, but Know your Limitations

I have met many songwriters who have tried to overreach themselves and the end result is a meandering mess of a song. This is a tricky one to abide by because as songwriters, we are all naturally curious and want to see what chord substitutions can do and the like. Keep that adventurous spirit, but also realize that certain chords work together for a reason, and more often than not, your first instinct will be the best choice.

You will find yourself growing as a songwriter who wants to learn more about either theory, chords, or melodies. Actively seek out knowledge and immediately apply it to your next song. It may work, it might not, but applying everything you learn as soon as you learn it will make it part of your vocabulary as a songwriter.

In high school, I learned as many chords as I could. I was an expert at chord functions when I entered college. In my theory education, I received my education in HOW and WHY those chords work well together. That–along with my training in melody, voice-leading, and keys–helped me formulated ways to manipulate the audience through interesting and outlandish–but still appropriate–chord changes.

The second part is knowing your limitations. Everyone has a certain “style” to how they write songs. It doesn’t matter what genre you claim to write, if you were to write a pop song, rock song, or reggae song, they will follow a certain pattern and chord progression. Embrace this and be proud of it. You have your own influences and derive from them in ways unlike anyone else who might have the same influences.

As a songwriter in The Common Men, the promise of new material always gets the fans excited, and while I may venture from our usual song type, fans can always pick out the little things that still tell them it’s a Common Men song.

- Keep Things Simple (But Complexity has it’s Place)

This is pretty self-explanatory, but allow me to elaborate anyway Even songs that are super complicated (think about most progressive rock bands) have some elements of simplicity to it. Complexity for complexity’s sake makes songs sound meandering and messy.

However, remember that even with band’s that play simple music, they have a song or two or even elements of songs that have something complex about them. It doesn’t have to be a complex time signature change or overly complicated chords. The complex element can be an extra-melodic bass, a more syncopated drum beat or a simple chord with some extended harmony (think sustained chords or diminished chords) added to it. Perhaps your song is in E and you bring the bridge to C, or maybe you make the outro in E Minor. It’s the details that can really make your song standout.

- Perspective, Perspective, Perspective!

This is perhaps the most important of the three tips. This one helps you retain your sanity!

First and foremost: always be mindful of your audience. This does NOT mean that you write what you think the audience wants to hear. This simply means that you realize WHO will be hearing your music.

Most audience members have little to no knowledge about music–they only know what they like. Most of the time, the audience will simply not “get” you. Don’t be upset if they don’t “get” your lovely modulations or time signature changes. Most of the time, these people will simply go home and say to someone “Yeah, they played some complicated stuff.” They will also relate you to what they know. The Common Men are influenced by Joy Division, Bowie, Interpol, and The Moving Units to name a few. However, we get compared to Devo, The Fixx, The Minutemen, and The Dead Kennedys. It just happened that we remind them of what they like because they might not have heard of our influences or simply don’t see it that way. I figure, a fan is a fan

It may take you days, weeks, months to write a song. However, it only takes seconds for someone to listen, process, and judge your work. So, if they stick around and come up to tell you they enjoyed your set or really like a certain song, smile and be gracious about it!

In my years as a performer and songwriter, I know about the times when no one would show up to a show or even stick around. Now, The Common Men play to a good-sized audience every time we play out in our hometown. This keeps me humble and thankful for everything we have done and accomplished. This also helps breed confidence in our abilities as songwriters and arrangers. Though, the first time someone heard one of my songs ages ago and said “Hey, that sounds good!” was all I needed

I hope you have enjoyed this column! I will go into some of my favorite chords, and maybe a review or two of gear! Thanks again for reading!

Kevin Ian runs over 17 pedals. He is quite the tap dancer live on stage! He is currently the frontman/guitarist for The Common Men. You can find them on MySpace, Twitter and Facebook.. Please direct questions and comments to thecommonmenmusicgmailcom

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The following is a guest post by Jack Broughan. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Fugazi has always been a band characterised by strong principals, but the bands guitar sound has been governed strongly by the “keep it simple” ethos. Attempting to achieve much with very little equipment, Fugazi seek to gain a stronger connection with their music without being saddled down by excess gear.

Guitars:

Guy:
A Sunburst Rickenbacker 330 with RIC HB1 humbuckers.
A Black Rickenbacker 330 with RIC HB1 humbuckers.

Ian:
A white 1970′s Gibson SG fitted with a Dimazrio Super distortion in the bridge.
A brown1970′s Gibson SG fitted with a Dimazrio Super distortion in the bridge

Left, Ian uses his white SG and Marshall JCM. Right Guy uses his sunburst Rick with his park amplifier.

Amplifiers:

Guy:
A Park 100 Watt head,
A Marshall JCM 800 2203 head,
A red Marshall JCM 800 412 cabinet fitted with 75 watt celestion speakers.

Ian:
A Marshall JCM800 100 watt 2204 [Horizontal Input],
Marshall JCM800 412 cabinet fitted with 65 watt celestion speakers.

Guy using his Marshall JCM800 with his Black Rickenbacker 330.

Effects Pedals:

Guy:
An MXR Distortion plus,
A Budda Budwah,
An Echo park Echoplex.

Ian:
None used.

Notes:
Ian plugs directly into the high gain input in his JCM 800 and also keeps his presence and treble very low and bass and mids cranked on the amp.
Guy Also uses the MXR as a boost pedal.
Guy also alternates between the Park and the Marshall.
For more recent tours he has been seen using the Marshall.

by Jack Broughan

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The following is a guest post by Norman Harris of Norman Rare Guitars in Tarzana, CA. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Here’s a simple answer. A great guitar player. Other than a great player, a great instrument, that is in good playing condition that is well constructed with good woods and is well adjusted.

Fine Tone Woods
Quality tone woods are in very short supply these days. There have been embargoes placed on quality woods due to environmental restrictions. Tampering with rain forests, cutting down trees, has left a void and because of such high demand for these tone woods, it is very difficult to find quality aged tone woods. Back in the day, woods used to make fine instruments were aged 50 to 100 years prior to them being used on instruments. These days because of demand, woods are being artificially aged. This is not the same as the natural process of aging. Brazilian rosewood is in very short supply and rare woods dealers are finding their stash diminishing each year.

Spruce, which is the preferred wood for tops and sound boards of guitars, is also in short supply. Adirondack spruce, which is some of the highest quality used for sound boards, is extremely scarce. Substitutes of lesser quality have to be used in order to keep up with the worlds thirst for fine instruments.

Fingerboard materials such as ebony and rosewood are also becoming scarcer. Manufactures are looking for alternative substitutes for all these woods. Good woods make for fine sounding guitars.

Fine Design
A guitar will only sound as good as its design and construction. Bracing patterns, neck shapes, fret sizes, neck angles, bridge design are all part of the design components that make up a fine sounding guitar.

Fine Luthiers and Manufactures
Each Luthier and manufacturer has their own style and design that they prefer. This is what makes each guitar sound different and have its own personality. Acoustic guitar makers each use their own preference in wood, bracing, and cosmetic design. This is what makes each brand slightly different from the next. Electric guitar manufacturers use different pickup designs and each produces a different sound. For instance Gibson Humbucking pickups produce a fatter and warmer sound than Fender’s single coil pickups. Rickenbacker pickups produce a chimey sound associated with groups from the British invasion. Gretsch guitars use DeArmond pickups. This is the choice of many Rockabilly musicians. Other manufacturers use variations to come up with and produce their own sounds.

Pickup Alloys
The wire used to wrap pickups in the old days used specific alloys, many of which are no longer available. Manufacturers have tried to go back and figure out what they used years ago to produce the great sounds these pickups were getting. The amount of winds used, specific metals that were used, and other factors are being studied to come up with the best combinations to enhance tone.

A Guitar being in Fine Adjustment
A guitars set up is of prime importance to its tone. If the action is too high or too low, a guitar will not produce its optimum sound. If a guitar’s frets are not dressed properly, a guitar may sound more like a sitar than a guitar. Materials used at the nut and the bridge also determine a guitar’s tone. Pickup, height adjustment on electric guitars also is very important to maximize a guitars tone.

The bottom line is that nothing makes a guitar sound good but a great player. Great players need fine tools, just like a great carpenter needs fine tools.

When all of the above is in fine order, voila great tone!

Keep rockin and pickin!

Norman Harris is the owner of Norman’s Rare Guitars in Tarzana, California. Norm specializes in high end vintage guitars in addition to basses, amps, and accessories.

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The following is a guest post by Kevin Ian Common. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Hello Kind Readers!

As the only guitarist in The Common Men, I enjoy taking a break during songs and letting the bass and drums take over. I consider my role as the sprinkles on top of a cupcake, if you will.

However, I sometimes like to take simple chords to the next level. I used to spend days learning songs and trying to find new ways to twist the chord changes. This was the easiest way for me to develop my own voice in playing guitar.

The chord progression is from a well-known 80′s song “Under The Milkyway” by The Church. Here are the chords:

low – high EADGBe

Am: X 0 2 2 1 0

A7sus4: X 0 2 0 3 0

Fmaj7: X 3 3 2 1 0

G: 3 2 0 0 3 3

I’ve taken the chords and added my own touch to them. Here are the reworked chords with an explanation of what I did:

Am9: X 0 7 5 0 7

The B natural in this chord add a lovely quality and is the 9th in the A minor scale

A7sus4: X 0 7 7 0 5

While I don’t have the G which would make it a 7th chord, the bass plays the G, which implies the 7th

Fmaj7: X X 7 5 6 0

I just took the chord up to the fifth position and added the open E string to make it a Maj7

G: X X 9 7 8 10

G chord in a different position. The high D gives it a lovely shimmer to it

I have also added the Behringer Echo Machine to a shimmer setting. It’s known as the “U2 Shimmer” and it sounds like a synth pad behind my guitar. I also add a fast delay on top of it.

I love using effects pedals. I think they can really augment a progression. However, a little knowledge of chord functions and a little ingenuity can add a uniqueness to your playing as well!

Thank you for reading!

- Kevin Ian

Kevin Ian runs over 20 pedals. He is quite the tap dancer live on stage! He is currently the frontman/guitarist for The Common Men. You can find them on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Please direct questions and comments to thecommonmenmusicgmailcom

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The following is a guest post by Kevin Ian Common. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Hello Kind Readers!

I’ve finally figured out my camera issues and will go back to doing video with my next column!

This is another short but sweet column talking about pedals. In my research I found out about buffers. If you run pedals, every time you introduce a pedal with cables, you add more noise to your system. Guitar pickups are high impedance devices which make them susceptible to noise from surrounding electronics. Furthermore, when you break up the connection between the guitar and amp, your signal becomes increasingly noisy. You also lose treble and your bass frequencies become increasingly muddy and flabby.

Most people will say “Use nothing but True-Bypass pedals and your problems are solved.” This helps only to a certain extent, as not all pedals are created equal. Even a pedal chain of True-Bypass pedals will lose tone and add noise.

I decided to experiment with a few things. Not one to use boost pedals, I decided to use one at the beginning of my chain to drive my pedals and compensate for volume loss. I also wanted to use something at the end of my chain. This is where the idea of using a buffer comes in. It retains the original sound of my guitar as if the pedals never existed. This sounded too good to be true, but what I found was surprising.

My boost pedal of choice is the MXR Micro Amp. It is a clean volume boost and does not add anything to my tone. I’m a big fan of my tone already, why change it? I found that with using this pedal, my guitar sounds bigger and I don’t need to dial in so much gain on my overdrive and fuzz pedals. This helps with the clarity of my chords and such. However, when I really want to go over the edge, the extra boost pushes the sucker over the cliff. Surprisingly enough, my Devi Ever LP at it’s full intensity now sounds extra fuzz and ugly. It’s a dream come true!

I have quite a few Non-True-Bypass pedals in my chain–namely two Behringer pedals and one Danelectro Mini-Pedal. I love the way they sound, so I’m not interesting in trading them in for anything more boutique right now. These pedals also dare to go places most pedals won’t for the price! I’d love to regain the original sound of my Reverend direct into my Classic 30–the original sound that sold me on the guitar. I purchased a Cmatmods Buffer from eBay and hoped for the best.

What happened next was amazing:

It was like my pedals were not there. It sounded like I was plugging my Reverend into my Classic 30 with a 10 foot cable. It was amazing. My treble was sparkling and my bass was taut and pronounced. However, the best indicator of my progress lies in the EQ.

Without my boost and buffer, I found myself scooping my mids and boosting my treble and bass on my amp. I also boost the treble on all of my overdrive and distortion pedals. My signal was quite noisy. After using both the boost and buffer, I had to readjust my EQ and kept everything pretty much flat with a slightly boosted bass. Most of the extraneous hiss is all but completely gone and I am happy.

I know some people who have gone into effects loop switching as well. I cannot write about it because it’s foreign to me. I do love cascading my pedals–sometimes turning them all on at once!–so one linear line does the job for me. If i so choose to experiment further, I will be sure to write about my experiences Sometimes, all people need is a little secondhand knowledge or experience to inspire them to experiment themselves. There are so many different options with regards to signal routing and looping and such… have fun!

Thanks for reading! I am planning to go back to real-time applications of my previous columns. We’ll take a look at a chord progression and explore different ways to play it. I might even flirt with recording guitar techniques. Stay tuned!

Kevin Ian Common loves large pedalboards. He eventually plans on running 30 pedals at once! He is a multi-instrumentalist and guitarist/vocalist for The Common Men. You can find them on MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. You can reach him @ thecommonmenmusicgmailcom

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The following is a guest post by Brian Porter of Porter Pickups. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

As guitarists, we’re obsessed with tone and finding the right gear to work for the sound we are after, for our band, or for the studio. We’ve tried a whole lot of guitars, amps, pedals and everything else looking for that “it” thing. We’ve come across some things that have worked for us, and some that have been a frustrating purchase because the hype didn’t match the gear. For every good gear purchase we’ve made, there’s probably a few we’ve regretted making. Since one can never have enough gear, we are always looking for what can improve our sound and our setup.

The part of the setup that often gets overlooked or ignored is the pickups. We’ve spent a lot of money on guitars, cables, pedals, and amps, but so often replacing the pickups has not been a part of the equation for seeking better tone. The basic job of a pickup is the translating of the string vibration into a small electric signal that goes through the rest of the setup and then gets amplified. A well made and designed pickup can be crafted to more accurately translate what is being played. Since the pickups job is to capture what you are playing, it is crucial to your tone.

Pickups can be custom designed to capture and translate your tone through a variety of ways: Each magnet type used in a pickup has certain tonal qualities. Pickups can be wound with different wire types and sizes to match vintage specs, or give you a modern sound. Each wire type can also be wound with different tension and number of turns, and the pattern of the wire can effect the tone as well. All of these design factors can be matched with styles of the player and the woods in the guitar to make a truly custom tone translation for the player. All of the sudden your guitar will sound better, and you might end up holding on to some of the rest of your gear line since a more custom and accurate translation is now headed through it!

There’s a wide range of great pickup companies out there. Spend some time researching what each offers and learning more about what you are looking for. Chances are the more you know ahead of time, the closer a pickup maker can get you what you are after. Just make sure to warn others of the impending face melting (See: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark).

Brian Porter is the owner of Porter Pickups. He started Porter Pickups as part of his obsession for tone, and the desire to offer others custom made pickups at an affordable price with the look and sound they are after. Visit his website at www.porterpickups.com

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